One of my favourite songs by gospel icon Sfiso Ncwane is entitled Kulungile Baba. You may know it? It’s a firm fan favourite. But as I walked into the Grace Bible Church in Soweto on Friday morning, the words of the song stirred deep inside my heart.

Christians with ‘a love for Israel’ to protest BDS’s ‘anti-Semitism’

Parliament in Cape Town and the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Joburg will be the venues for protest actions by a Christian group against a “call to target Jewish-owned businesses in their activities” on Friday morning.

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The Defend Embrace Invest (In) and Support Israel (DEISI) group‚ “supported by other groups announces…a countrywide protest against the BDS (Boycott‚ Divestment‚ and Sanctions against Israel) movement”.

“We condemn such actions by the BDS movement as being unconstitutional‚ opposed to freedom of association and a threat to the employment and stability of the ordinary South Africans employed by those companies‚” DEISI said.

“This is an unacceptable practice of racism and anti-Semitism by the BDS movement and must be called out for its bigotry.

“We believe it is our responsibility to defend the right of Israel to exist within safe and secure borders in their homeland."

The DEISI statement described itself as “a national group of Christians who have a love for Israel”.

“Only peace and love should be spread from South Africa to The Holy Land of Israel‚” it declared.

The protest action comes as anti-Israel activists‚ including BDS‚ celebrate Israeli Apartheid Week in South Africa.

BDS said the series of protests and workshops “is endorsed in South Africa by more than 85 organisations‚ trade unions‚ political parties and other groups”.

“The aim of IAW is to raise awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians and serves to garner support for the non-violent BDS against Israel campaign‚ which seeks to bring an end to Israel's apartheid policies and violations of international law‚” it said.

BDS has in the past targeted local retailers which stock goods sourced from Israel.

It appeared to be unrelated‚ but the “State of Israel's official twitter channel” - Israel ישראל ‏@Israel – posted a picture of a punnet of tomatoes framed with a border combining the Israeli and South African flags.

BDS campaigner Muhammad Desai‚ however‚ had been quoted by PoliticsWeb as saying: “The tomato committed no crime. These products could be easily sourced from other countries‚ and there’s no reason to source from Israel.”

The same frame for the tomato picture was also used on one showing a circumcision device with the words: “Israeli device “Prepex” used across #Africa as part of health programs for #HIV prevention.”